Saturday, March 29, 2014
Dinner and Play Reading - You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running.
Had a great night at Nik and Nancy's. We had a wonderful Moroccan dinner and then read a play. This play, written in the 60's and performed in NYC in 1967, is composed of 4 one act plays. This is the second one we've done. Everyone seems to ready enjoy. We plan on hosting the next.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Shabbat at Jay and Monique's in Little River
Our first Friday night Shabbat after moving to Mendocino was a Jay and Monique's a couple years ago. So it was very nice to go back to their house for another Shabbat. Their house is so unique and the rain hitting the roof made it a special night.
Jay always has great stories and tonight was no exception.
Jay always has great stories and tonight was no exception.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Bidder 70
Went to a special Mendocino Film Club presentation of Bidder 70. If you get a chance to see the film - please do.
For those of you out of Mendocino - here's the website to request a screening
http://www.bidder70film.com/
For those of you out of Mendocino - here's the website to request a screening
http://www.bidder70film.com/
Movie Info
In 2008, as George W. Bush tried to gift the energy and mining industries thousands of acres of pristine Utah wilderness via a widely disputed federal auction, college student Tim DeChristopher decided to monkey-wrench the process. Bidding $1.7 million, he won 22,000 acres with no intention to drill. For this astonishing (and successful) act of civil disobedience he was sent to federal prison. Beth and George Gage's new documentary BIDDER 70 tells the story of this peaceful warrior whose patriotism and willingness to sacrifice have ignited the climate justice movement
Sunday, March 16, 2014
The Art of Shim - alcohol making at library
The only thing that would have made the class better was samples as planned but someone called the ABC. We bought the book and are planning another presentation with booze. We bought the book (of course)
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Purim at the Shul
Another fun Purim with Susan as the one serving booze and Gary as the terrible Haman. Luna outdid herslef on the food and the decorations.
St. Patrick's Celebration in Elk
The Elk Altar Society is the successor organization to the Native Sons of Little Ireland, which in 1892 initially sponsored the St. Patrick’s Day festivities at Elk – now in its 118th consecutive year.
The rum cake is to die for.
The rum cake is to die for.
This is a multi-cultuial day for us. we go from here to the Purim festivities in Casper.
Met Opera - Werther
Awesome opera. Kaufmann was extraordinaire. Here's the NY Times review. Great acting, singing, music and cast.
Things End Badly for a Poet, but Quite Well for
the Tenor
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI FEB. 19, 2014
Last February, the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann had a triumph at the
Metropolitan Opera when he performed the title role of Wagner’s
“Parsifal” in the company’s very bleak but theatrically riveting new
production. On Tuesday night, a year later, Mr. Kaufmann was back at the
Met in the title role of Massenet’s “Werther” on the opening night of
Richard Eyre’s new production. It was another success for Mr. Kaufmann,
currently the most in-demand, versatile and exciting tenor in opera.
Of course, “Werther” is no “Parsifal.” Like many opera fans, I usually
find Massenet musically thin and emotionally cloying. Still, “Werther” is
his most distinguished and psychologically astute opera, a touchstone of
the late-19th-century French repertory. Adapted from Goethe’s novel “The
Sorrows of Young Werther,” the opera tells of an aimless and melancholic
young courtier in 1780s Germany, a dabbler in poetry, fixated on his own
perceptions of life. He falls impulsively in love with the impressionable
young Charlotte, the oldest daughter of the widowed Bailiff, the steward of a large estate on the outskirts of Frankfurt.
In turning Goethe’s novel into an opera, Massenet instinctively held
back, writing a lyrically alluring and harmonically rich, but refined, score
that allows for emotional ambiguity and never indulges in bathos. To be a
great Werther, a tenor must somehow be charismatic yet detached, vocally
impassioned yet ethereal. Mr. Kaufmann is ideal in the role. He sings with
dark colorings, melting warmth, virile intensity and powerful top notes.
There is a trademark dusky covering to his sound that lends a veiled
quality to Mr. Kaufmann’s Werther and suits the psychology of the
character.
He could not have better support from the cast, especially the French
mezzo-soprano Sophie Koch, in her overdue Met debut, who brings a
plush, strong voice and aching vulnerability to Charlotte. The French
conductor Alain Altinoglu led a beautifully restrained account of the score,
drawing supple, deep-textured and nuanced playing from the Met
orchestra.
Mr. Eyre’s production, while essentially traditional, uses video
imaginatively and has a look that suggests the late 19th century, the era of
the work’s premiere. Opera fans who dislike concept-driven contemporary
stagings will find nothing objectionable here. And for me, that’s the
problem. This is one of those play-it-safe productions that split the
difference between faithfully depicting a period and injecting a few
contemporary elements.
Mr. Eyre, who made his Met debut in 2009 with a vividly theatrical
“Carmen,” has chosen to fill in the back story of “Werther.” His penchant
for explaining everything is a little at odds with the cloaked dramatic
character of the opera. During the orchestral prelude, we see through a
scrim the death of the Bailiff’s wife acted out in silence, or at least her
death as Mr. Eyre imagines it. It seems to be Christmastime, and the
Bailiff is leading his children in singing. Then, a woman among them,
clearly their mother, clutches her chest and collapses to the floor. Soon, we
see a coffin being carried to a shady burial area on the grounds, trailed by the Bailiff and his children: six young ones and the two older sisters,
Sophie and Charlotte.
Though it is not terribly objectionable to tell the story so literally, it is
not necessary and, on balance, less effective. Without this made-up silent
scenario, Massenet’s opera usually begins with the Bailiff rehearsing his
inattentive children in Christmas carols, even though it is the middle of
July. The back story of the mother’s death is revealed subtly through
dialogue among the characters.
With sets and costumes by Rob Howell, this production intriguingly
blurs the boundaries between nature and home life, between indoors and
outdoors. A series of receding rectangular arches frame the area,
suggesting the walls and roof of the Bailiff’s house. But the arches are
askew to indicate that things for this family are not quite right. As a
theatrical design motif, a row of askew arches is becoming a little trite.
Mr. Eyre uses Wendall K. Harrington’s videos inventively to depict
trees swaying in the breeze, the passage of seasons and, during one bold
sequence, a flashback to the ball where Charlotte and Werther, her escort
for the night, fall in love. Charlotte is already engaged to the eligible young
Albert, who, when the opera begins, has been away for six months.
Whatever my problems with elements of the staging, Mr. Eyre
deserves unreserved credit for the detailed and involving performances he
draws from his cast. During the opening scene, with just a few phrases and
gestures, the husky-voiced baritone Jonathan Summers conveys the
decency of the Bailiff, who, after instructing his youngest children in their
carol singing, is enticed by two drinking buddies to join them at a tavern.
The bright-voiced, impressive soprano Lisette Oropesa is a sunny,
winning Sophie, who, along with Charlotte, has become a mother figure
for their younger siblings. Yet this Sophie is no chirping innocent. She has
suffered loss and somehow intuits that Charlotte is not as settled on
marriage to Albert as she claims to be.
When Mr. Kaufmann’s Werther arrives to escort Charlotte to the ball,
he is enchanted by the bucolic garden and the domestic scene outside the Bailiff’s house. He sings an almost pantheistic invocation to nature. Mr.
Kaufmann delivers it with such delicacy and wonderment that this
Werther seems nearly detached from reality. During the charged duet with
Charlotte after they return from the ball, Mr. Kaufmann uncannily
conveys the mix of romantic yearning and self-absorption that defines this
character.
In this staging, when Albert arrives, he is wearing a military uniform,
which provides a plausible explanation for his six-month absence and fits
with the honorable nature of the character as played by the robust Serbian
bass David Bizic, in his Met debut.
During Act III, which takes place in Albert’s drawing room on
Christmas Eve, a good Charlotte can almost take over this opera, and Ms.
Koch came close. The distraught Charlotte, who has been rereading
Werther’s desperate love letters, tells Sophie in a wrenching aria (complete
with a forlorn saxophone in the orchestra) that keeping tears back can
destroy the heart. Ms. Koch, whose growing repertory includes Wagner
roles like Venus and Brangäne, sang with gleaming intensity while still
suggesting a fragile, confused young woman.
Werther shows up ready to kill himself if Charlotte will not leave
Albert and succumb to their love. Charlotte distracts him by pulling out a
volume of poems by Ossian that Werther had once translated. Mr.
Kaufmann holds nothing back in his fervent performance of Werther’s
“Lied d’Ossian,” one of the high points of this score.
The last act takes place in Werther’s study, rendered as a cramped
room almost hovering in the middle of the darkened stage. Again, Mr. Eyre
decides to make the story explicit. In the libretto, when the scene begins,
Werther has already shot himself: We see him mortally wounded. Here,
during the orchestra tableau that precedes this scene, Mr. Eyre shows us
Mr. Kaufmann’s brooding, depressed Werther pointing a gun at his head
but losing his will. Then, in an impulsive act, he shoots himself through
the chest. Blood splatters on the back wall, a Martin Scorsese effect.
For all the intensity of Mr. Kaufmann’s acting, seeing the graphic suicide take place goes against the veiled nature of the opera. Once the
singing started, though, I didn’t think about anything else. During the
farewell duet with Charlotte, Mr. Kaufmann’s melting sadness and almost
crooned pianissimo phrases combined hauntingly with Ms. Koch’s
tremulous anguish.
Mr. Eyre and the production team were politely applauded by the
audience. The ovations for this superb cast, especially the great Mr.
Kaufmann, went on and on.
Things End Badly for a Poet, but Quite Well for
the Tenor
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI FEB. 19, 2014
Last February, the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann had a triumph at the
Metropolitan Opera when he performed the title role of Wagner’s
“Parsifal” in the company’s very bleak but theatrically riveting new
production. On Tuesday night, a year later, Mr. Kaufmann was back at the
Met in the title role of Massenet’s “Werther” on the opening night of
Richard Eyre’s new production. It was another success for Mr. Kaufmann,
currently the most in-demand, versatile and exciting tenor in opera.
Of course, “Werther” is no “Parsifal.” Like many opera fans, I usually
find Massenet musically thin and emotionally cloying. Still, “Werther” is
his most distinguished and psychologically astute opera, a touchstone of
the late-19th-century French repertory. Adapted from Goethe’s novel “The
Sorrows of Young Werther,” the opera tells of an aimless and melancholic
young courtier in 1780s Germany, a dabbler in poetry, fixated on his own
perceptions of life. He falls impulsively in love with the impressionable
young Charlotte, the oldest daughter of the widowed Bailiff, the steward of a large estate on the outskirts of Frankfurt.
In turning Goethe’s novel into an opera, Massenet instinctively held
back, writing a lyrically alluring and harmonically rich, but refined, score
that allows for emotional ambiguity and never indulges in bathos. To be a
great Werther, a tenor must somehow be charismatic yet detached, vocally
impassioned yet ethereal. Mr. Kaufmann is ideal in the role. He sings with
dark colorings, melting warmth, virile intensity and powerful top notes.
There is a trademark dusky covering to his sound that lends a veiled
quality to Mr. Kaufmann’s Werther and suits the psychology of the
character.
He could not have better support from the cast, especially the French
mezzo-soprano Sophie Koch, in her overdue Met debut, who brings a
plush, strong voice and aching vulnerability to Charlotte. The French
conductor Alain Altinoglu led a beautifully restrained account of the score,
drawing supple, deep-textured and nuanced playing from the Met
orchestra.
Mr. Eyre’s production, while essentially traditional, uses video
imaginatively and has a look that suggests the late 19th century, the era of
the work’s premiere. Opera fans who dislike concept-driven contemporary
stagings will find nothing objectionable here. And for me, that’s the
problem. This is one of those play-it-safe productions that split the
difference between faithfully depicting a period and injecting a few
contemporary elements.
Mr. Eyre, who made his Met debut in 2009 with a vividly theatrical
“Carmen,” has chosen to fill in the back story of “Werther.” His penchant
for explaining everything is a little at odds with the cloaked dramatic
character of the opera. During the orchestral prelude, we see through a
scrim the death of the Bailiff’s wife acted out in silence, or at least her
death as Mr. Eyre imagines it. It seems to be Christmastime, and the
Bailiff is leading his children in singing. Then, a woman among them,
clearly their mother, clutches her chest and collapses to the floor. Soon, we
see a coffin being carried to a shady burial area on the grounds, trailed by the Bailiff and his children: six young ones and the two older sisters,
Sophie and Charlotte.
Though it is not terribly objectionable to tell the story so literally, it is
not necessary and, on balance, less effective. Without this made-up silent
scenario, Massenet’s opera usually begins with the Bailiff rehearsing his
inattentive children in Christmas carols, even though it is the middle of
July. The back story of the mother’s death is revealed subtly through
dialogue among the characters.
With sets and costumes by Rob Howell, this production intriguingly
blurs the boundaries between nature and home life, between indoors and
outdoors. A series of receding rectangular arches frame the area,
suggesting the walls and roof of the Bailiff’s house. But the arches are
askew to indicate that things for this family are not quite right. As a
theatrical design motif, a row of askew arches is becoming a little trite.
Mr. Eyre uses Wendall K. Harrington’s videos inventively to depict
trees swaying in the breeze, the passage of seasons and, during one bold
sequence, a flashback to the ball where Charlotte and Werther, her escort
for the night, fall in love. Charlotte is already engaged to the eligible young
Albert, who, when the opera begins, has been away for six months.
Whatever my problems with elements of the staging, Mr. Eyre
deserves unreserved credit for the detailed and involving performances he
draws from his cast. During the opening scene, with just a few phrases and
gestures, the husky-voiced baritone Jonathan Summers conveys the
decency of the Bailiff, who, after instructing his youngest children in their
carol singing, is enticed by two drinking buddies to join them at a tavern.
The bright-voiced, impressive soprano Lisette Oropesa is a sunny,
winning Sophie, who, along with Charlotte, has become a mother figure
for their younger siblings. Yet this Sophie is no chirping innocent. She has
suffered loss and somehow intuits that Charlotte is not as settled on
marriage to Albert as she claims to be.
When Mr. Kaufmann’s Werther arrives to escort Charlotte to the ball,
he is enchanted by the bucolic garden and the domestic scene outside the Bailiff’s house. He sings an almost pantheistic invocation to nature. Mr.
Kaufmann delivers it with such delicacy and wonderment that this
Werther seems nearly detached from reality. During the charged duet with
Charlotte after they return from the ball, Mr. Kaufmann uncannily
conveys the mix of romantic yearning and self-absorption that defines this
character.
In this staging, when Albert arrives, he is wearing a military uniform,
which provides a plausible explanation for his six-month absence and fits
with the honorable nature of the character as played by the robust Serbian
bass David Bizic, in his Met debut.
During Act III, which takes place in Albert’s drawing room on
Christmas Eve, a good Charlotte can almost take over this opera, and Ms.
Koch came close. The distraught Charlotte, who has been rereading
Werther’s desperate love letters, tells Sophie in a wrenching aria (complete
with a forlorn saxophone in the orchestra) that keeping tears back can
destroy the heart. Ms. Koch, whose growing repertory includes Wagner
roles like Venus and Brangäne, sang with gleaming intensity while still
suggesting a fragile, confused young woman.
Werther shows up ready to kill himself if Charlotte will not leave
Albert and succumb to their love. Charlotte distracts him by pulling out a
volume of poems by Ossian that Werther had once translated. Mr.
Kaufmann holds nothing back in his fervent performance of Werther’s
“Lied d’Ossian,” one of the high points of this score.
The last act takes place in Werther’s study, rendered as a cramped
room almost hovering in the middle of the darkened stage. Again, Mr. Eyre
decides to make the story explicit. In the libretto, when the scene begins,
Werther has already shot himself: We see him mortally wounded. Here,
during the orchestra tableau that precedes this scene, Mr. Eyre shows us
Mr. Kaufmann’s brooding, depressed Werther pointing a gun at his head
but losing his will. Then, in an impulsive act, he shoots himself through
the chest. Blood splatters on the back wall, a Martin Scorsese effect.
For all the intensity of Mr. Kaufmann’s acting, seeing the graphic suicide take place goes against the veiled nature of the opera. Once the
singing started, though, I didn’t think about anything else. During the
farewell duet with Charlotte, Mr. Kaufmann’s melting sadness and almost
crooned pianissimo phrases combined hauntingly with Ms. Koch’s
tremulous anguish.
Mr. Eyre and the production team were politely applauded by the
audience. The ovations for this superb cast, especially the great Mr.
Kaufmann, went on and on.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Annual MCJC Dinner at Ledford House in Albion
We drove with Charles and Louise. Bought three dinners at the auction. Then had a great crape dinner. Its the 25th year and lotsof great vibes. Its the big fundraiser of the year for the shul
PS - we saw the Green Flash As the sunset
PS - we saw the Green Flash As the sunset
Friday, March 7, 2014
Play - "Other Desert Cities" and the new resturant "Flow" for dinner
John, Mary-Alice, Paula and Cornelia (she met us there) went to dinner at a new restaurant in Mendocino - Flow that serves "small plates". The food was good and the service was spotty. The old restaurant was a breakfast/lunch spot we always liked because of the views. We understand they were more or less pushed out as the owners did not want to renew their lease for whatever reason. It sat vacant a couple years until last month when Flow opened. Its the only upstairs restaurant with a view in Mendocino.
After dinner we went to MTC for the play Other Desert Cities about a dysfunctional family meeting at the parents home in Palm Springs. Thought it really captured the 60's/70's life in Palm Springs. The set was excellent (the interior of their home). After seeing August Osage County the night before, we've probably seen enough dysfuncitonal family shows for a while.
After dinner we went to MTC for the play Other Desert Cities about a dysfunctional family meeting at the parents home in Palm Springs. Thought it really captured the 60's/70's life in Palm Springs. The set was excellent (the interior of their home). After seeing August Osage County the night before, we've probably seen enough dysfuncitonal family shows for a while.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
August: Osage County
We saw the play in Ashland a couple years back. The movie is true to the play and the acting is wonderful. What a dysfunctional family.
Before the movie seven of us went to Pizza and Cream for a nice dinner.
Before the movie seven of us went to Pizza and Cream for a nice dinner.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Film Club - Only Human
We saw this at the Jewish Film Festival in Sacramento a few years back but enjoyed again.
This zany comedy in Meet the Parents fashion is a cautionary tale of bringing home that special someone. Leni's family is a handful: there's her blind grandfather, the belly dancer sister with a 5-year-old daughter, the brother with a newfound relationship with religion, the pre-menopausal mother and the estranged father. Leni brings her fiancé, Rafi, to meet the family, but all chaos ensues when the Jewish clan discovers he's Palestinian.
Starring Oscar-nominated Norma Aleandro (GABY), this gloriously irreverent family comedy fuses brilliant characterization and unrelenting humor to rework the age-old story of meeting the parents with a hilarious modern twist. Directors: Dominic Harari and Teresa De Pelegrí Rated: R for some sexual content, nudity and language Runtime: 85 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles
"A wacky, appealing Spanish comedy. Everyone whose families boast an excess of opinions will relate, no matter what their background." – Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
This zany comedy in Meet the Parents fashion is a cautionary tale of bringing home that special someone. Leni's family is a handful: there's her blind grandfather, the belly dancer sister with a 5-year-old daughter, the brother with a newfound relationship with religion, the pre-menopausal mother and the estranged father. Leni brings her fiancé, Rafi, to meet the family, but all chaos ensues when the Jewish clan discovers he's Palestinian.
Starring Oscar-nominated Norma Aleandro (GABY), this gloriously irreverent family comedy fuses brilliant characterization and unrelenting humor to rework the age-old story of meeting the parents with a hilarious modern twist. Directors: Dominic Harari and Teresa De Pelegrí Rated: R for some sexual content, nudity and language Runtime: 85 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles
"A wacky, appealing Spanish comedy. Everyone whose families boast an excess of opinions will relate, no matter what their background." – Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
Sunday, March 2, 2014
The Oscars at the Theater
For the 3rd year now, we went to see the Oscars shown live on the big screen at the Arena Theater. Its a collective experience to watch it on the big screen with friends and neighbors.
We try to see all the nominees before hand and did a good job this year. We are happy with 12 Years a Slave being the movie of the year. The one movie we had no desire to see that won a lot of technical awards was Gravity.
It was free to get in and the theater made money selling food and champagne.
We try to see all the nominees before hand and did a good job this year. We are happy with 12 Years a Slave being the movie of the year. The one movie we had no desire to see that won a lot of technical awards was Gravity.
It was free to get in and the theater made money selling food and champagne.
Monthly Grange Breakfast
Tortillas made from scratch; huevos rancheros, salsa's from scratch, fran from scratch, biscuits from scratch (no mix) - it was a super breakfast. We always love visiting with all of our friends and neighbors. Its a great way to spend a rainy morning.
And we have water again - the spring that feeds our water is flowing again.
And we have water again - the spring that feeds our water is flowing again.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Enchanted April
We went to the play Enchanted April with Paula at the Gualala Art Center. We went to Bones in Gualala for dinner. We had a $50 credit from an charity auction to use. They've added more fish dishes and the dinner was wonderful. We split (what's new) the ahi tuna and the salmon. Each comes with two sides so we had a total of four to split. Paula had the ribs.
The show was really quite good. All of the actors did a good job and the performance was a sell-out which is great to see.
Between this play and the morning auction - we were heavy into sitting and the arts for the day.
The show was really quite good. All of the actors did a good job and the performance was a sell-out which is great to see.
Between this play and the morning auction - we were heavy into sitting and the arts for the day.
NY Met Opera - Prince Igor
Went to an epic opera this morning. It is a new version of the opera, Prince Igor. The opera was 4 1/2 hours. The sets were fantastic, especially the poppy field. A captivating story and wonderful leads and chores. We especially loved the base who played Khun. If it has a replay, we would highly recommend.
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